Prof Kai Voss-Fels - Predictive breeding across crops and careers

Video Description

Prof Voss-Fels shares insights from his research journey, spanning from early work in predictive breeding of field crops at The University of Queensland to his current role as Professor of Plant Breeding at Geisenheim University in Germany, where his group focuses on perennial fruit crops such as grapevine. Kai reflects on the opportunities and challenges of developing predictive breeding approaches in long-lived crops and discusses how career transitions, international collaborations and interdisciplinary research have shaped his trajectory. The presentation combines scientific perspectives on predictive breeding with broader reflections on career development in plant breeding. Kai Voss-Fels is Professor and Head of the Department of Plant Breeding at Geisenheim University, Germany. He leads a team focused on genomics, phenotyping, quantitative genetics and biotechnology, with a particular emphasis on grapevine. After completing his PhD in quantitative genetics at JLU Giessen in 2016, he was a Senior Research Fellow and ARC DECRA Fellow at The University of Queensland, Australia (2017–2021), before returning to Germany to establish a new research program in horticultural breeding. His research develops omics-assisted strategies to accelerate the improvement of yield, quality and disease resistance in horticultural crops.